Our Home Away From Home

I am a little ashamed to show you what a nice home we have here in South Africa, but some people have asked to see what it looks like.  I know you think we are living in a hut with a dirt floor, and I will say that many things in our life are very different, but we are enjoying a pretty normal existence here.  We moved in on Elder Herbert's birthday, 7 August.  Almost all of the cupboards were full and of course the furniture was here because we moved into a flat owned by two wonderful members of the Church who had decided to move to ENGLAND!  Their children were all living there (and granchildren) and Bernadette and Sigmund assured us it was not much of a sacrifice to go and leave their life behind.  We are renting the place they had moved into after all their children left.  They left everything because they can't afford to ship it to England---it will cost about the same to buy all new things.  As you can see from this pic of my living room - I now have pictures (handmade, embroidered) on my walls and lamps and small tables and bookcases!  Cool, huh.

First I will show you the central area of the complex as seen from our front door and then a picture of our front door which you can tell is ours because the "burglar bars" are sitting open.  That second picture is taken from the front door of our dear friends, the Harms who encouraged us to move here so we would live across from them and who now live in Johannesburg because they have been transferred!  We have a cute little courtyard down there and we can plant things in pots down there if we want to take care of them.  We have several little planters with plants around our door as you can see from the second picture.

Our living room is very much like a living room you would see in the US. We have two small love seats and -yes, really, two matching recliners.  That open door leads out to our deck which is enclosed in glass and is now a sunroom.  We have a nice futon out there, so if anyone comes to visit, they will have a nice place to sleep.  The only drawback is that the dryer is out there so it gets muggy when we can't open the windows because of the "cold."  It really is a great idea to put the dryer on the deck and we can open the windows so that the whole front of the deck is open.  Yes, family, the TV tables are here!  You can see my laptop on that one in the front left.  And of course, the ever present heater which we have not put away yet.

Here's a quick picture of the sunroom.  It is cute and I love to sit out here at night and open those two big windows and look at the stars and the moon and wonder what all of you are doing!  Only down side---no burglar bars---but don't worry we're on the second floor and we keep the windows locked tightly when I am not sitting there!  (Yes those little lines are to dry the wash!  We are very green here and intent on saving electricity!)

Here you can see the recliners and another thing that we have had before in one of our homes---a window between the kitchen and the living room!  And there is Vic stretched out in the recliner!  Deja vu all over again!  This was taken soon after we moved in - the boxes are actually gone now! 

We have a spare bedroom for guests too!  Yes, I realize that we will probably never have any guests, but it is fun to dream!  This is my little keyboard that Vic bought me for Christmas last year.  I am really improving as a pianist although I am not ready to play for Church yet except in emergencies.   I'm still way too slow! If you come to visit I will serenade you to sleep with Abide With Me Tis Eventide!

On the other end of the room is this little computer desk where I often work on my blog.  It isn't very comfortable sometimes, so I move to the living room and use the TV tray.  This is a little more organized now.  This picture was taken when we first moved in.  The pole is a floor lamp.  You can only see half of the bookcase, but that is filled with Church books and map books and a few history books that are wonderful to have here where for missionaries books are really a luxury. 

This is our bedroom with cross-stitch temple pictures for a headboard.  I could not believe Bernadette didn't at least take these with her.  She said if she comes back for a visit, she will probably slip those into her suitcase just because it took so long to make them.  They are the Salt Lake, Johannesburg, and London temples. 

The bed is really comfortable and although it looks like nothing special, we feel fortunate to have such a great bed to sleep in.  It has helped our health stay good we think.

Here's a picture from the other corner so you can see our great dresser created by two dressers with a board over to connect them.  It is so great too because we only had five total drawers in our other flat and now we each have six!  That long top is very handy and a little TV!  We don't watch much, but a little news in the morning is nice---the weather and the sports - futball is not what it is at home!  But we enjoy hearing about Bafana, Bafana and the many rugby games can be pretty entertaining if you need to unwind from a long day in the office. 

And here you can see our exciting closet!  It's large with lots of shelves too.  Yeah, I guess it isn't too exciting, but what do you expect?  I know! a mural painted on the doors-- of the jungle or the ocean would be nice.  But I'm not sure Bernadette and Sigmund would agree.  As you can see from their home they live simply and are not ones to do the unusual.  We are so grateful for their unselfish gift to us of this fantastic place to live.  We attended a farewell fireside for them at the Mowbray Ward where they lived and everyone was so upset they were leaving.  They have truly blessed the area they have lived in---he has been in branch presidencies and bishoprics in several places in the stake and she has served in all the women's auxiliaries and was the stake primary president when they decided to move.  They are charging very low rent so that missionary couples can live here.  And they insisted on painting and fixing everything up before they left.  It is actually much nicer that when they lived here.  They took out the carpets and put in a wood floor throughout except the kitchen.  We hope they are so happy there in England.

Here is our lovely little water closet.  We are happy to have a small sink in it, as most people just have the potty in there.  At least we can wash our hands without going to the next room.  Only problem---no hot water to that little sink --one faucet and only one temperature---cold!  Yes, there is a mirror which I didn't have in my other flat and there is a cute little cross-stitch on the wall that says "A day hemmed with prayer is less likely to unravel."  I enjoy that little thing very much!  I guess it is my sewing background because it just kinda speaks to me!  Hmmmmm looks like I need to wash the mirror!

We do have a tub in this flat and a pretty good hand-held type shower on a special hanger that makes it a nice way to wake up in the morning. They have unbelievable water pressure and that shower is super!

You can see these rooms are just around the corner from each other.  This is lots nicer than our bathroom in the other flat that was all-in-one.  Almost as good as having two bathrooms, but not quite!

I do have a little better pic of the bathroom so you can see that I actually can wash my face in hot water and everything in here.  Another mirror - what a bonus---we are blessed.  It looks a little dark, but we actually have very good light in here and it is a great bathroom. 

I have saved the best for last---the kitchen.  It is pretty nice and we enjoy cooking and eating in here. 

There is lots of cupboard and counter space and it is just a cheery room.  This is the first thing you see when you walk in our front door---it is right off the entryway.   I take a lot of flack from missionary visitors about those jello molds on the back wall!

You could probably not care less right now, but this is the other side opposite that side.  Next to the stove is the washer.  Not totally convenient, but not too bad either.  We have two good-sized windows, and they are frosted glass because they are right on the walk-way outside.  So people cannot see in if they walk by.  I miss being able to see out!

And here is a close-up of the buffet where we have all our dishes and then the kitchen table.  You can see we have lots of the conveniences you have at home.  I hope you are not too disappointed!

Elder Harms teased me so much about the jello molds and begged me for a salad in the shape of a fish, so I finally made one for him and here is the picture to prove it!  I am planning to make the cornucopia for Thanksgiving this year!

 Now you have been all through our little flat and I hope you'll leave a note about what you thought of it.  Come on over and see us sometime - we'll leave the lights on for ya!  No we won't---what am I saying?  That would really waste our electricity!  You are very welcome to come, but few lights will be burning!